Scottsdale Community College unveils what magic can be achieved with a renowned program, an army of creative students, and a hefty budget, all bundled into the bed sheets with “The Blacksmith and the Carpenter”.

There was a time when there wasn’t much of anything to do in downtown Mesa. But things quickly changed with the arrival of Mesa Arts Center in the autumn of 2005. A complex of four theatres, five contemporary arts galleries, two art studio buildings, and some really great architecture and landscaping all provide the magnetic pull to Main Street that the small city’s downtown district needed to bring new energy to the fold. Mesa Arts Center contributes not only to the vitality of downtown Mesa but to the burgeoning Phoenix art scene as well.

The American and Arizona craft brew industry has grown rapidly while maintaining a bold, dynamic approach to brewing. Over the past three decades, they have quietly made a powerful argument on behalf of better beer – beers available in a cornucopia of styles and flavors.

AZ/88 has been around since 1988, and continues to be a hotspot in Old Town Scottsdale. The stylish, surrealistic AZ/88 has staying power, and for a bar to last nine years in an area swarmed with bars is impressive. The people and atmosphere at AZ/88 are undoubtedly the main attraction.

Thanks to friends in Amsterdam, Rembrandt and the Dutch masters are in town from January 28 to May 6 at the Phoenix Art Museum.

On a seemingly all-too-perfect day (set against a backdrop of gray skies, falling rain drops, and the scarce, yet festive, scattering of Christmas lights along the city), I couldn’t help the overwhelming sense of nostalgia and childlike joy for the all-too-fast approaching holidays.

As I walk into the dimly lit establishment that is the well-known Phoenix gay bar “Charlie’s,” I stroll right past the counter and stop to take off my coat when I notice a charming box to my left. It has a bright sign which reads “Hot Nuts.”

Punk rock says what you always want to but never can. Not only does it say it, but it sings it, screams it, lives it...

Now I march on my achievements in hope of spawning their future master: successful salvation of my lesser man.